Reader "Highland Boy" writes in:Your readers might find this of interest, and I would be interested in their thoughts. Found very close the 'bowl stone' is another stone with a smallcircular hole. It's not like the usual blasting holes found sometimes alongcolonial roads. Very curious, especially in light of the other things inproximity.from my blog post...A ceremonial niche of some sort? The beginning of a farmer's aborted attempt to split the rock for a wall or foundation? Those were my first thoughts. Thereare other huge boulders in a nearby pasture that were drilled to make holesfor long-gone iron hinged gates, somewhat odd in itself. However, the proximity of this stone to the bowl stone makes me settle on two possibilities upon further reflection. 1) Someone wanted to see how difficult it would be to recreate thebowl stone...and finding it quite difficult, gave up. 2) This was made in relationto the bowl stone. It is lined up perfectly, west to east, looking down the hill.If the bowl stone, as I theorize, was used to make food, medicine or for ceremonial purposes, fire was a necessary component. This niche could have been used a firestarter hole utilizing the stick or bow method, with tinder resting atop it. Another post on my blog pictures a rock formation to the rightof this 'niche stone' which has heavy red iron oxide deposits, an indication ofmany fires burning against it. At least, that is my current thinking...
2 comments :
I see little holes like this pretty often. Sometimes it seems like a rock splitting that got aborted. Other times a single hole appears by itself and you wonder about it. Your specualations are reasonable. I sometimes wonder about rock moving techniques that might need to do something to get a grip on the rock. I also think about more recent surveyors maybe marking a rock this way.
The hole doesn't look too circular to me, and I wonder if it might be where some softer material eroded out.
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